In
Trenton, “after a dozen different
ballotings,” [1]
with only eight States present, the USCA elected Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
President on November 30, 1784. Lee would serve as president until November 22,
1785. He was the second of three Virginians to hold the unicameral
Presidency. He was described by his
peers as tall and graceful in person and striking in feature. His voice was
clear and rich, and his oratory impressive. He did not waste time in flowery
rhetoric, instead speaking briefly and to the point. His ideas were so lucid
and expression so forcible that when he sat down after a few weighty words
fellow representatives often remarked that there was no more to be said on the
subject. His capacity for work was daunting, though sometimes limited by poor
health; as Dr. Rush said, “His mind was like a sword which was too large for
its scabbard." [2]

Students and Teachers of US History this is a video of Stanley and Christopher Klos presenting America's Four United Republics Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. The December 2015 video was an impromptu capture by a member of the audience of Penn students, professors and guests that numbered about 200.

Richard Henry Lee was the
third son of a Thomas Lee, the "empire builder," who as the 5th
son of Richard Lee "the emigrant", the largest Virginia
landowner at the time of his death in 1640, received a modest
inheritance. At an early age Richard Henry Lee was sent over to England
for schooling at the academy of Wakefield in Yorkshire. The personal wealth and
status of his family enabled Lee to choose any profession, including
philanthropist. In 1752 he returned to Virginia and without any plans for a
professional practice applied himself with great diligence to the study of law.
Both English and Roman law occupied his attention; he was also an earnest
student of history. As a young adult, Richard Henry Lee decided to rent out
many of his inherited slaves as well as his inherited lands hoping to support
his family on the proceeds while devoting his professional efforts to politics.
In 1757 he was appointed justice of the peace for Westmoreland County. In 1758 he
was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, of which he remained a delegate
until 1788. Richard Henry Lee was married twice. His first wife, Aylett Lee,
bore two sons and daughters. His second wife, Pinkard, also birthed two
daughters.

Extreme shyness prevented
his taking any part in the debates for some time in House of Burgesses. His
first speech was on a motion:

to
lay so heavy a duty on the importation of slaves as effectually to put an end
to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia.[3]

On
this occasion, his hatred of slavery overcame his timidity and he made a
powerful speech supplying proofs of principal points of view used by the
northern Abolitionists through the 1860's. Lee had no profession beyond his
public service. Like Samuel Adams, he was a professional politician. In times
of need, especially when the real estate market declined after the French
and Indian War, he found no other way to provide for his family than
seeking lucrative appointive governmental offices.

In
1769 as a member of the House of Burgesses Richard Henry Lee introduced a tax
on imported slaves, he maintained would help end the inhumane trade. His
critics, however, were quick to point out that his bill was self-serving as if
the importation of slaves ended the value of those he already owned and leased
would be driven up in the more restricted labor market. Despite this, Lee
continued to condemn slavery itself. The institution he claimed harmed innocent
Africans who he described as “Our fellow
creatures who are no longer to be considered as created in the image of God as
well as ourselves, and equally entitled to liberty and freedom by the great Law
of Nature.”[4]

In
March 1773, Dabney Carr proposed the formation of a permanent Committee of
Correspondence[5]
before the Virginia House of Burgesses. Virginia's own committee was formed on
March 12, 1773. Its members were Peyton Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas,
Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick
Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thomas Jefferson.

He was one of the more
liberal members of the committee. In
1773 he wrote Samuel Adams, a member of the Massachusetts Committee of
Correspondence, a letter that began a lifelong friendship between the two great
leaders. The letter shows what indeed all his letters evince how ardent his
patriotism was and how near to his heart was the cause of country.

SIR From a person quite unknown to you,
some apology may be necessary for this letter. The name of my brother, Dr.
Arthur Lee, of London, may perhaps, furnish me with this apology. To be firmly
attached to the cause of liberty on virtuous principles, is a powerful cause of
union, and renders proper, the most easy communication of sentiment, however
artfully disunion may be promoted and encouraged by tyrants, and their
abettors. If this be true in general, how more certainly is it so, in that
particular state of affairs, in which every scheme that cunning can form, or
power execute, is practiced to reduce to slavery, so considerable a portion of
the human species, as North America does, and may contain. Every day's
experience proves this, to an attentive observer. Among other instances in
proof, if I mistake not, the manner of resenting the loss of the Gaspie, is
one. At this distance, and through the uncertain medium of newspapers, we may
never, perhaps, have received a just account of this affair.

I should be
extremely glad, sir, when your leisure permits, to have as true a state of the
matter, as the public with you, has been furnished with. At all events, this
military parade appears extraordinary, unless the intention be, to violate all
law and legal forms, in order to establish the ministerial favorite, but fatal
precedent, of removing Americans beyond the water, to be tried for supposed
offences committed here. This is so unreasonable, and so unconstitutional a
stretch of power, that I hope it will never be permitted to take place, while a
spark of virtue, or one manly sentiment remains in America. The primary end of
government seems to be, the security of life and property; but this ministerial
law, would, if acquiesced in, totally defeat every idea of social security and
happiness. You may easily, sir, perceive, that 1 understand myself, writing to
a firm and worthy friend of the just rights and liberty of America, by the
freedom with which this letter is penned. Captain Snow, of your town, who comes
frequently here, and who takes care of this, will bring me any letter you may
be pleased to favor me with.[6]

Samuel Adams response would mark the beginning of the establishment of Adams-Lee
faction of the Continental Congress and USCA.

SIR Your letter to me of the fourth of
February last, I received with singular pleasure, not only because I had long
wished for a correspondence with some gentleman in Virginia, but more
particularly, because I had frequently heard of your character and merit, as a
warm advocate of virtue and liberty. I had often thought it a misfortune,
rather than a fault in the friends of American independence and freedom, not
taking care to open every channel of communication. The colonies are all
embarked on the same bottom. The liberties of all, are alike invaded by the
same haughty power. The conspirators against their common rights, have indeed,
exerted their brutal force, or applied their insidious acts differently, in the
several colonies, as they have thought, it would best serve their purpose of
oppression and tyranny. How necessary, therefore, that all should be early
acquainted with the particular circumstances of each, in order, that the wisdom
and strength of the whole, may be employed upon every occasion. We have heard
of bloodshed, and even civil war, in our sister colony of North Carolina; and
how strange is it, that the best account we have of that tragical scene, should
be brought to us from England.

This province, and this town especially,
have suffered a great share of ministerial wrath and insolence. But, God be
thanked, there is, I trust, a spirit prevailing which will not submit to
slavery. The compliance of New York in making annual provision for a military
force designed to carry acts of tyranny into execution, the timidity of some,
and the silence of others, are discouraging. But the active vigilance, the
manly generosity, and the steady perseverance of Virginia and South Carolina,
give us reason to hope, that the fire of true liberty and patriotism, will at
length spread itself through the continent; the consequence would be, the
acquisition of all we wish for. The friends of liberty in this town, have
lately made a successful attempt to obtain an explicit political sentiment of a
great number of the towns of this province, and the number is daily increasing.
The very attempt was alarming to our adversaries, and the happy effects of it,
mortifying to them. I would propose it for your consideration, whether the
establishment of committees of correspondence among the several towns in every
colony, would tend to promote that general union, upon which the security of
the whole depends. The reception of the truly patriotic resolves of the House
of Burgesses of Virginia, gladden the hearts of all who are friends to liberty.

Our committee of correspondence had a special meeting on the occasion, and
determined to circulate immediately, printed copies of them, in every town in
the province, in order to make them as extensively useful as possible. I am
desired by them, to assure you of their veneration for your most ancient
colony, and their unfeigned esteem for the gentlemen of your committee. This
indeed, is a poor return I hope you will have the hearty concurrence of every
Assembly on the continent. It is a measure which will be attended with great
and good consequences. Our General Assembly is dissolved, and writs will soon
be issued, according to the charter, for a new Assembly, to be holden the last
Wednesday in May next. I think I can almost assure you, there will be a return
of such members as will heartily co-operate with you in your spirited measures.
The enormous stride in erecting what may be called a court of inquisition in
America, is sufficient to excite indignation in every heart capable of feeling.

I am expecting an authentic copy of that
commission, which I shall send to you by the first opportunity, after I have
received it. The letter from the new secretary of state to the governor of
Rhode Island, which, possibly you may have seen in the newspapers, may be
depended upon as genuine. I received it from a gentleman of the Council of that
colony, who took it from the original. I wish the Assembly of that province had
acted with more firmness than they have done; but as the court of inquiry is
adjourned, they may possibly have another trial. I have a thousand things to
say to you, but am prevented from want of time, having had but an hour's notice
of the sailing of this vessel. I cannot conclude, however, without assuring
you, that a letter from you, as often as your leisure admits, would lay me
under great obligations.[7]

In
August 1774, Mr. Lee was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.

He was a member of the committees for
stating the rights of the colonies, for enforcing commercial non-intercourse
with Great Britain, and for preparing suitable addresses to the king and to the
colonies - Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Georgia, and the then Floridas -
that had not sent delegates to the congress.

In the second Congress Lee
drew up the address to the people of Great Britain, which along with a last
petition to the king, was carried over to London by Richard Penn in August
1775. About this time Mr. Lee was chosen lieutenant of Westmoreland County, an
office which, after the analogy of the lord-lieutenancy of a county in England,
gave him command of the militia; hence he is often addressed or described, in
writings of the time, as "Colonel Lee."

For more than a year he openly and
warmly advocated a declaration of independence. After the May 17, 1776 Virginia
Convention instructed its delegates in congress to propose such a measure, it
was Lee who took the foremost part. On June 7th, 1776 he moved:

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Resolved that it is the opinion of this Committee that the first Resolution be postponed to this day three weeks and that in the meantime a committee be appointed to prepare a Declaration to the effect of the said first resolution + least any time skid be lost in case the Congress agree to this resolution - Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses National Archives

John Adams seconded the motion. Congress deferred action for three weeks, in order that more definite instructions might be received from the middle colonies. In an uncanny twist of fate Mr. Lee was called home by the illness of his wife. It was at this time that Thomas Jefferson was appointed in his place as chairman of the committee for preparing a draft of the proposedDeclaration of Independence.For the same reason, the task of defending the motion, when taken up for discussion, fell mainly upon John Adams, who had seconded it.

Resolution for Independency Manuscript, which was passed on July 2, 1776.

John Adams was successful
in defending Mr. Lee's motion, and on July 2, 1776, the United Colonies of
America officially became the United States of America. It was July 2, 1776
that John Adams thought would be celebrated by future generations of Americans.

The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." -- John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

Thomas Jefferson went on
to author the formal Declaration of Independence, which was passed by Congress
on July 4, 1776, immortalizing the young delegate forever. During the next four
years Mr. Lee served on more than a hundred committees. Richard Henry Lee only
had one drive, full speed ahead and his pace as Congressional Delegate resulted
in failing health on several occasions forcing Lee to return to Virginia to
recuperate. From 1780 until 1782 he did not take his seat in Congress because
the affairs of Virginia required his leadership and good work in the state
assembly. During this period of the Revolutionary War the British Army
controlled the ports and key cities in Georgia and the Carolinas. In 1781
Cornwallis overwhelmed Southern Virginia while Benedict Arnold burned Richmond.
Additionally in the Virginia two questions of great importance were being
debated in the legislature. The first related to the propriety of making a
depreciated paper currency, the U.S. Continental, legal tender for debts. The
second was a resolution to disclaim all debts to British merchants contracted
by citizens of Virginia before the beginning of the war. In these debates
Richard Henry Lee took a strong position against paper money, and he vehemently
condemned the repudiation of debts, declaring that it were better to be"the honest slaves of Great
Britain than to become dishonest freemen."

United Colonies of America, July 2, 1776 manuscript naming the historic resolution: "Resolution for Independency" which is clearly marked on this original Continental Congress manuscript passed on July 2, 1776. The roll indicates that New Hampshire was the first State to vote for Independence

United Colonies of America Resolution For Independency with roll call vote results written on the July 2, 1776 - Image courtesy of the Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1783; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives

United Colonies of America roll call vote result written on the July 2, 1776 "Resolution for Independency" which is clearly marked on this original Continental Congress manuscript passed on July 2, 1776. The roll indicates that New Hampshire was the first State to vote for Independence. Mew York is not listed as the delegation abstained from the vote - Image courtesy of the Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1783; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives

As Colonel of the
Westmoreland Militia his troops secured key ports, one a Stratford Springs,
along the Potomac River aiding the Continental Army in their mission to keep
the trade routes open to Virginia. He was successful and soon Washington won a
sweeping Victory at Yorktown. During the negotiations of the subsequentTreaty of ParisLee remained very active in the
Virginia assembly. He successfully led the effort to establishing sound methods
of funding Virginia's public debt and providing for the revival of public
credit. These Herculean accomplishments did not go unnoticed by his colleagues
in the Unites States in Congress Assembled as the Definitive Treaty of Peace
with Great Britain exacted a heavy monetary measure from the United States
restoring Tory land holdings and repaying British merchants for goods used and
seized during the Revolutionary War. The citizens and government of the United
States were dire financial circumstances as the debt was staggering and the
Continental Currency had collapsed. In the hopes that Mr. Lee could duplicate
his financial success managing Virginia's debt at a national level, the
Delegates elected him President of the United States in Congress Assembled on
November 30, 1784 with the following resolution:

The committee, to whom
were referred the credentials produced by the delegates from the states of
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, report, "That they have carefully examined
the credentials to them referred, and are of opinion, that the honorable Samuel
Holten and George Partridge, of the State of Massachusetts; the honorable David
Howell, of the State of Rhode Island; the honorable William Churchill Houston
and John Beatty, of the State of New Jersey; the honorable Joseph Gardner and
William Henry, of Lancaster, of the State of Pennsylvania; the honorable Samuel
Hardy, James Monroe and Richard Henry Lee, of the State of Virginia; the
honorable Hugh Williamson and Richard Dobbs Spaight, of the State of North
Carolina; the honorable Jacob Read, John Bull and Charles Pinckney, of the
State of South Carolina; and the honorable William Houstoun and William
Gibbons, of the State of Georgia, appear to be clearly and indisputably
entitled to their seats, are authorized to sit and vote in the present Congress
of the United States. Eight states being assembled, the United States in
Congress assembled, proceeded to the election of a President, and, the ballots
being taken, the honorable Richard Henry Lee was elected.

In
1784, Richard Henry Lee was elected as a delegate to the United States, in
Congress Assembled. There was a movement
after the Annapolis’ session failure of the Committee of the States to make the
President a “more powerful and
serviceable official,” but it resulted in no increase in Presidential
powers.

Lee’s
accomplishments as a delegate in Virginia did not go unnoticed by his
colleagues in the United States, in Congress Assembled. The Definitive Treaty
of Peace with Great Britain exacted heavy monetary measures from the United
States and its citizenry restoring Tory landholdings and requiring the
repayment of British merchants for goods used and seized during the
Revolutionary War. The citizens and government of the United States were in
dire financial circumstances as the debt was staggering and the Continental
Currency collapsed.

THOMAS'S MASSACHUSETTS SPY: OR, WORCESTER GAZETTE, December 16, 1784, reports that Richard Henry Lee is elected President of the United States in Congress Assembled in Trenton, N.J. Article states "This is the gentleman who first made the motion in Congress, for declaring the States of America independent, in the year 1776."

Richard Henry Lee was elected by the Delegates as USCA President because they hoped that
Colonel Lee could duplicate his financial success managing Virginia's debt at
the national level. The Adams-Lee faction had finally come into power and even
the staunchest conservatives trusted that Richard Henry Lee would lead the
country onto a path of financial stability.

Was Delaware, Virginia, or New Hampshire the first US State?

The
USCA assembled in the French Arms Tavern that was erected in 1730 as a private
residence of stone and stucco. The
building was two stories high, with a gabled roof that measuring 45 feet in
width and 43 feet in depth plus a narrower extension in the rear. The house stood on the southwest corner of
King (now Warren) Street and 2nd (now State) Street in Trenton, New Jersey. The rear extension on the Second Street side
served as kitchen and servant's quarters. The building was owned by John Dagworthy
until his death in 1756. For two years during this period, from 1740 to 1742,
it was the official residence of Governor Lewis Morris. In 1760 it was sold to
Samuel Henry, an iron manufacturer, who made it his residence until he leased
the property to Jacob G. Bergen in 1780 for use as a tavern.

Before
opening the tavern, which he named "Thirteen
Stars," Bergen made extensive changes in the building. He added a
third story, with a gabled, dormer-windowed roof; converted two of the
first-floor rooms into one room 20 feet in width and 43 feet in length, which
became known as the "Long
Room;" and set up a barroom in the basement. In 1783 the building was
described as a "Dwelling-house 45 by
43 Feet, 3 Stories, 11 Rooms, eight with Fireplaces, a Kitchen and Stabling for
12 Horses." The Building’s name
later changed to the French Arms
celebrating France’s role in the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown when John Cape
took over the tavern’s management.
Bergen returned to the tavern in 1783 and retained the French Arms name.

In
1784 a commission appointed by the New Jersey Legislature leased the tavern,
which was still the largest building in town, for the use of the USCA. The Long room walls were repapered, the floors were
carpeted and a platform erected in the center of the south side of the room
between the two fireplaces. Thirteen new tables covered with green cloth and
forty-eight new Windsor chairs were provided for the delegates.[8]

Richard
Henry Lee's Presidency was a busy one, attending to the needs of the new
nation. Lee's candor and straightforwardness bore few secrets. In a November
18, 1784 letter to Samuel Adams he wrote, "I shall be extremely happy
to be aided by your counsels during my residence in Congress."[9]Richard Henry Lee's letters are abundant and well-published and
consequently we know that President Lee favored low taxes by funding the debt
with foreign loans. Lee, in fact, reviled duties and was a staunch opponent of
Congress' willingness to tax the citizens at a Federal level.

The
USCA stay at Trenton was brief and most of its time was spent in appealing to
the states to send delegates. John Jay, who was a strong opponent of President
Lee, had returned as a delegate to USCA at Trenton and was not in favor of a
Trenton capitol. Additionally, Jay had
yet to accept the position of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He was lobbied hard by both southern and
northern delegates to accept the position.
Jay hesitated because he wanted the capitol in his hometown of New York
along with the right to select his owns clerks and assistants as Foreign
Secretary.

On
the topic of the capitol, the Southern States made every effort to have the
alternate sessions at Trenton and Annapolis repealed campaigned. On the 20th of December the USCA
passed a resolution that repealed the proposed two capitol system and provide
money for the erection of federal buildings:

Resolved, That it is inexpedient for
Congress at this time to erect more than one federal town public buildings for
their accommodation at more than one place.
Resolved, (by nine states,) That a sum not exceeding one hundred
thousand dollars be appropriated for the payment of the expense of erecting
such buildings; provided always, that hotels or dwelling-houses for the members
of Congress representing the different states, shall not be understood as
included in the above appropriation.[10]

John Jay managed to gather enough support to
temporarily relocate the capitol to New York if he accepted the position of
Foreign Secretary. With this in hand he
introduced a resolution aimed at removing Trenton and Annapolis as the
temporary federal capitals:

That it is expedient Congress should
determine on a place, at which they will continue to sit until proper
accommodations in a federal town shall be erected, and that the subsisting
resolutions respecting the alternate temporary residence of Congress at Trenton
and Annapolis, be repealed.[11]

Jay
then resigned his seat in USCA and the oath of office as Secretary for Foreign
Affairs before Justice Isaac Smith of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The following day Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary, Henry Remsen, Jr. turned over all the department papers to
John Jay. The following official
dispatch, Jay’s first, was sent to the French Chargé d'Affaires, Marquis de
Barbé-Marbois:

Having accepted the place of Secretary
for Foreign Affairs, it becomes my duty to inform you that Congress will
adjourn to-morrow to meet at the City of New York on Tuesday, the 11th day of
January next.[12]

Remarkably,
the capitol of the United States America, for the first and last time, had been
moved to persuade a member of its Congress to accept an executive position in
the federal government. According to
Elbridge Gerry the adjournment to New York also included a resolution that the
permanent capital would be placed on the banks of the Delaware instead of New
York and the new Foreign Secretary was not pleased:

It is fortunate that we arrived here as we
did, (1) for otherwise congress would by this time have been in Philadelphia
and the treasury in such hands as you and I could not approve. There was a
stronger party formed against us than I remember to have seen, but I think it
will subside and matters be in good train again. We have carried two great
points to-day by passing an ordinance, 1st. to appoint three commissioners to
lay out a district on the branch of either side of the Delaware, within eight
miles of this place, to purchase the soil and enter into contracts for erecting
suitable buildings.

(2) 2dly. To adjourn to New-York and
reside there until suitable buildings are prepared. This I consider a fortunate
affair in every respect but one. It is so disagreeable to our worthy secretary
that there is reason to apprehend he will resign his appointment. We have been
so happy also as to remove some objections on the part of Mr. Jay to the
acceptance of his office, and he yesterday took the oaths and entered on the
business of his department.[13]

Jay’s
biographer, Pellew writes:

He was unwilling, for reasons of private
business, to be detained at Trenton, where Congress had been in session and was
to reassemble in September, and also because he was reluctant to assume such
responsibility without the privilege of selecting his own clerks, a power which
Congress had heretofore reserved to itself.
Meantime he was elected a delegate to Congress by the state legislature;
but on December 21st, Congress having decided to adjourn to New York, and
yielding in the matter of the appointments of his subordinates, Jay accepted
the secretaryship, and resigned his seat on the floor. Almost immediately
afterwards he was tempted to become a candidate for governor ; but he refused
to desert the federal service, saying : ‘A servant should not leave a good old
master for the sake of a little more pay or a prettier livery.’[14]

John Jay did not resign his position of Secretary
for Foreign Affairs and became the most important and powerful appointment
under the Articles of Confederation.
Jay would hold the post until the establishment of the second
Constitutional government in 1789.
Although not a member of the USCA, Jay was given the privilege to appear
before that body and state his views.
All foreign correspondence that had gone directly to President of the
United States, even when Robert Livingston held the post, now went directly to
Jay. The President, therefore, was
effectively removed from a position of power in the matter of foreign relations
because all diplomatic correspondence stopped and the Foreign Secretary
reported directly to USCA. This was a major change to powers of the
Presidency.

The
Journals of the USCA report this chronology of events in Trenton under
President Richard Henry Lee:

December 3 Registers
commission of Swedish consul Charles Hellstedt; orders redeployment of Fort Stanwix
troops to West Point. December 7
Countermands redeployment of Fort Stanwix troops, who are ordered to Fort
Rensselaer. December 8 Receives
Massachusetts and New York agents assembled to select judges for hearing land
claim dispute between the two states. December
11 Rejects motion to adjourn from Trenton; com mends the marquis de
Lafayette. December 14 Postpones
election of treasury commissioners; directs Benjamin Franklin to delay signing
consular convention with France. December
15 Receives Spanish announcement closing Mississippi River. December 17 Elects chaplain to
Congress; resolves to appoint minister to Spain. December 20 Overturns decision to create two capitals; appropriates
$100,000 for capital buildings. December
23 Adopts ordinance for fixing upon a place for the residence of
Congress." December 24
Certifies selection of judges for hearing Massachusetts-New York land claim
dispute; adjourns to New York City.

On
January 11, 1785 the USCA reconvened in the old City Hall in New York. The office of Foreign Affairs, along with
the Board of War was relocated to Fraunces Tavern about four blocks from the
new capitol building. The Historian of
the U.S. Department of State writes:

Although some have stated that the first
location of the Department of Foreign Affairs in New York was also in the City
Hall in a room above the Council chamber, an item in a Department account book
under date of January 19, 1785, seems to contradict this. It indicates
"cash paid a cartman for hauling two cases belonging to the Office, from
the City Hall, where they had been carried thro' mistake with the Boxes of the
Secretary's [Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress] Office."[15]

The location of the Department from
January 11, 1785, to April 30, 1788, was in a building known as "Fraunces
Tavern," which was owned by Samuel Fraunces, a noted innkeeper. Fraunces Tavern was situated on the
southeast corner of Great Dock (now Pearl) and Broad Streets. [16]

The capitol building that housed the USCA was eighty-five years
old. In
January, 1698, a committee was appointed to report on the necessity of a new
building for New York’s governmental offices.
A new structure was recommended at a site “opposite the upper end of Broad St.” The committee contracted James Evetts and
his subsequent design were presented and approved by the colonial
government. To fund the construction,
the old city hall, “excluding the bell,
the King's arms, and the iron-work belonging to the prison,”[17]
were sold at public auction to a merchant, John Hodman, for the sum of £920.
The cage, pillory, and stocks, however, remained in front of the old building
for a year afterwards while the new structure was being built. The foundation stone of the building was
laid, with some ceremony, in August 1699 as evidenced of a warrant being drawn
for paying the expense incurred on that occasion. March 1700 records indicate the Colonial Common
Council contracted with William Mumford to carve the King's, Colonial Governor
Lord Bellamont’s and Lieutenant-Governor, Captain Nanfan’s arms of the size of the three blank squares left
in the front of the City Hall for that purpose.[18]Moldings of stone were required to be made around each coat-of-arms, each
to be cut on one stone, unless a stone sufficiently large for the King's arms
could not be procured, in which case two stones might be used. The contract
called from them to be completed within six months and Mumford was to receive
forty-one pounds four shillings. The
building, thus, was completed in late 1700 or early 1701, but the exact date is
unknown.

In 1703, the cage, pillory,
whipping-post, and stocks were removed from Coenties slip[19]
and erected in the upper end of Broad Street, a little below the new City
Hall.

In
1715, Mr. Stephen Delancy, a “liberal and
wealthy merchant”, presented the city with fifty pounds, which he had
received as his salary as representative of the city in the General Assembly.
He suggested, after being asked, that the funds be used to purchase of a clock,
to be placed in the cupola of the City Hall. In 1716 an agreement was
accordingly made with clockmaker Joseph Phillips for its construction. It was
provided, that the largest wheel of the clock should be nine inches in
diameter, and that there should be two dial-plates of red cedar, painted and
gilt', each to be six feet square. The price paid was sixty-five pounds.

First Floor of New York City Hall before it was converted into Federal Hall in 1785. Federal Hall would serve as the capitol of the United States of America from January 11, 1785 to October 6, 1788 and again after renovations for the new tripartite government from March 4, 1789 to August 12, 1790.

It was not until the year 1718 that the
balcony called for in the original plans was constructed. In 1738 it was found that the cupola of this
building was ''very rotten and in danger
of falling." The old cupola was dismantled and a new one of the same
specification was erected in its place.

Second Floor of New York City Hall before it was converted into Federal Hall in 1785. Federal Hall would serve as the capitol of the United States of America from January 11, 1785 to October 6, 1788 and again after renovations for the new tripartite government from March 4, 1789 to August 12, 1790.

Third Floor of New York City Hall before it was converted into Federal Hall in 1785. Federal Hall would serve as the capitol of the United States of America from January 11, 1785 to October 6, 1788 and again after renovations for the new tripartite government from March 4, 1789 to August 12, 1790.

In
1763, which was a period when improvements, both private and public, were greatly
encouraged in the city. The City Hall,
now 63 three years old, was altered and improved, at very considerable expense.
The colonial committee of the Common Council approved a plan of "alterations and ornaments '' to
the building and to defray the computed cost of three thousand pounds, a
lottery was established. Among other improvements, the building was made
higher, and roofed with copper procured from England. The balcony in the front
of the building was extended out to range with the two wings. A cupola of more
imposing dimensions was raised upon the building, and a bell of larger
dimensions than the old one.

In
January of 1785, the USCA conducted their meetings on the second floor which
was once the room of the NY Supreme Court.
A room adjoining the meeting room was still occupied “and the noise of the scholars in their
recitations was so annoying as to disturb the debates. Complaint being made of
this, the school was discontinued.”[20]

New
York City, at the time of the USCA, was just beginning to recover from the
seven years of British occupation during the Revolutionary War. During the British’s stewardship, the city
was devastated by two fires and lost half its population. Only thirteen months
earlier, the British still languished in the City conducting hearings at
Fraunces Tavern. British representatives,
in the Treaty of Paris negotiations, were successful insuring that over three
thousand Loyalist Blacks would retain
their freedom rather than being returned to slavery. Wealthy slave owners prevailed upon the USCA
that a hearing be held for each one of the black loyalists to determine if
their claim of freedom met the terms agreement under the treaty. A joint British-American
Board of Inquiry was formed and convened from April to November 1783 to
ensure U.S. slave holders that only slaves who were emancipated by the British,
for their military service, would be given their permanent freedom. Each Wednesday,
for seven months, the board members heard the testimonies and reviewed the
evidence that were given by freed slaves and their witnesses. To the dismay of
numerous wealthy and influential U.S. slave holders, the British
representatives were successful in ensuring that almost all the loyalist blacks
maintained their liberty. Once these
hearings were complete, the British speedily evacuated New York.

On
January 27th, a comfortably located Congress passed their first
import measure in the New York Capitol. This
resolution re-adopted the vacant office of Secretary of War and expanded the
duties with two important measures:

… to take order for the transportation,
safe keeping and distributing the necessary supplies for such troops and
garrisons as may be kept up by the United States.

… He shall, at least once a year, visit
all the magazines and deposits of public stores, and report the state of them
with proper arrangements to Congress; and shall twice a year, or oftener if
thereto required, settle the accounts of his department.[21]

The
Secretary, thereby, was able to cut costs and manpower by dismantling the Army Staff
organization through the absorption of their distribution and supply responsibilities.

On February 2, 178 the US Comptroller of the treasury reported that a number of the Certificates issued by John Pierce, commissioner for adjusting the claims of the Army, have been counterfeited. The United States in Congress Assembled Resolved, That the Comptroller be required to trace the said Certificates as far back as possible, through their several possessors, on their progress to the treasury. And That the above Richard Henry Lee Presidential Proclamation "be issued, offering a reward to any person who will discover the person or persons concerned in the said forgery, or his or their accomplices; and enjoining all officers, civil and military, to be aiding and assisting in making such discovery." - image courtesy of the Library of Congress

On
February 11th, Foreign Secretary John Jay was successful in
advancing legislation to provide his office with a full time interpreter,
receive an addition $1,000 for contingent spending by his office and a full
time door keeper was added to the office’s payroll:

Resolved, That the Secretary for the
department of foreign affairs be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint an
interpreter, whose duty it shall be to translate all such papers as may be
referred to him … Resolved, That the wages of the door-keeper to the office for
foreign Affairs, be considered as part of the contingent expenses of said
Office … Resolved, That the treasurer of the United States advance to the
Secretary for the department of foreign Affairs, the sum of one thousand
dollars, for the contingencies of his Office, he to be accountable … Resolved,
That the Secretary for foreign Affairs, give orders for a careful removal of
the portraits of his Most Christian Majesty and of the queen of France, from
Philadelphia to the Hall in this City, in which Congress hold their sessions.[22]

Shortly
thereafter, upon the recommendations of Foreign Secretary, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were appointed,
respectively, ministers to Great Britain and France.

On
March 8th, the USCA elected Henry Knox as their new Secretary of
War. The War Department Knox assumed
command over had two civilian employees and a single small regiment. The budget, out of which the Knox was to
provide for the pay the clerk, his assistant and himself was fixed at $2,450 a
year. Knox accepted the position,
writing to Secretary Charles Thomson that he hoped to have leave of absence to
allow him to settle some of his private affairs. While still residing in Boston, Knox wrote to
Washington, on the 24th of March, in these terms:

"You may probably have heard that
Congress have been pleased to appoint me Secretary at War. I have accepted the
appointment, and shall expect to be in New York [then the seat of the National
Government] about the i5th of next month. From the habits imbibed during the
war, and from the opinion of my friends that I should make but an indifferent
trader, I thought, upon mature consideration, that it was well to accept it,
although the salary would be but a slender support. I have dependence upon an
unwieldy estate of Mrs. Knox's family, and upon the public certificates given
for my services; but neither of these is productive, and require a course of
years to render them so. In the meantime, my expenses are considerable, and
require some funds for their supply. Congress have rendered the powers and
duties of the office respectable; and the circumstances of my appointment,
without solicitation on my part, were flattering, nine States out of eleven
voting for me. I do not expect to move my family to New York until June next."

George Washington, still a private
citizen, was sincerely gratified by Knox's appointment replying: "Without a compliment, I think a better
choice could not have been made."

Secretary Knox came to power during a period of political chaos and confusion with the small powers of the national government taxed to their utmost to maintain for itself even a semblance of respect from the individual States. Congress was frequently obliged to suspend its sessions on account of there being no quorum present. The States, jealous of each other, were united only in their dread of the centralized government. The western counties of Pennsylvania were in a chronic condition of unrest and defiance of the both their State and Federal Governments. The western counties of North Carolina set up an independent government which was styled the State of Frankland. Similar claims for independent statehood were set forth by western Virginia which afterwards became the State of Kentucky. The people of the District of Maine also clamored for a separation from Massachusetts and a State government of their own. Most importantly, the Ordinance of 1784 Territory whose lands were to be sold, to fill the coffers of the federal government, was lawless and required the USCA to establish treaties with numerous Native American nations for even minor territorial settlement.

Secretary Knox, to support the western expansion, proposed an army mainly composed of state militia, specifically seeking to change attitudes in Congress about a democratically managed military. His plan was not adopted but Congress did authorize the establishment of a 700 man army on April 7th. Knox was only able to recruit six of the authorized ten companies, which were stationed on the western frontier due to poor pay and the limited resources of the federal government.On March 24th, 1785, Richard Henry Lee welcomed his nephew, Thomas Lee Shippen, and invited him to stay with him at the house provided for the President in New York. The following day Lee's nephew wrote his father William Shippen and provided this account of the Presidential residence:

Presidents House, New York, Thursday March 25th, 1785

My very Dear Papa

I arrived here yesterday at noon; left Mr. and Mrs. Miluard at Elizabethtown under the care of Mr. Bernard, who introduced them yesterday, I believe, to Governor Livingston and family. I did not chuse, as I had little time to stay in New York, to suffer any thing to delay my arrival there. I find already I shall have a difficult struggle with my feelings and inclinations on the fourth of April. However, I shall resolve to be with you about that time unless some unforeseen event should render it impractical.

I find my uncle in a palace and think indeed that he does the honor of it with as much ease and dignity as if he had been always crowned with a regal diadem. The chamber is a spacious and elegant one and prettily furnished. I now write in it and which way so ever I turn my eyes I find a triumphant Bar, a liberty leaf, a temple of flame on the Hero of Heroes, all these and many more objects of a piece with them being finally represented on the hangings. Never were more honors, I believe, paid to any man and very seldom with more cordiality than are daily heaped upon the head of the master of this castle. I rejoice at it because I believe no man ever better deserved them. Billeted of invitation without number, visiting cards and letters of friendly congratulations fill every mantel piece and corners of every chamber. Sentinels guard his door, crowds of obedient domestics run to his call and fly at his command, and a profusion of the delicacies of good living crowns his hospitable board. This you will say is not among the most unpleasant circumstances of the business in your son's estimation. I acknowledge it, my good father, I acknowledge that from a spirit observance and your and a constant endeavor no end from my youth to do as my father did I have imbibed an epicurean cask and really I think with Mont De St Evremond whose expression I have just used, that even Cato's virtues without it would not make us completely estimable or happy. But he speaks as I mean to do of all the pleasures we are susceptible of when he uses the word Epicurean.

1785 Broadside of the "Estimate of the Annual Expenditure of the Civil Departments of the United States, on the present Establishment" indicating the expenditure for President Richard Henry Lee's household was $12,203.12 The President was paid no salary for that office but did received a salary from his home State at the same rate of his fellow Virginia Delegates.

1785 Broadside of the "Estimate of the Annual Expenditure of the Civil Departments of the United States, on the present Establishment" - It is important to note that no paper Continental dollars were issued after 1779, and they had stopped circulating as money by 1781. In 1785, the United States in Congress Assembled made the dollar the official unit of account of the U.S. government, but did not issue physical dollar currency, thus by "dollars" they meant the Spanish milled dollar. No one denominated any transactions in Continental paper dollars after 1781. Now, banknotes denominated in dollar units (again meaning Spanish milled dollars) were being used from 1781 on (Bank of North America, several state banks, and then the First Bank of the US), but these notes were not official legal tender currency before Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, simply declared paper banknote dollars of several banks as good as Spanish milled dollars for paying Federal taxes.It would not be until 1792 that the US Mint struck its own silver dollar at a slightly different value (weight) then Spanish milled dollar. Spanish milled dollars, along with many other foreign specie coins, remained a legal tender in the United States until 1854. - Email Excerpt paraphrased from Dr. Farley Grubb, Economics Professor, University of Delaware.

Throughout
his term, President Lee remained steadfast that the release of states’ territorial
claims on the Northwest Territory would enable the federal government to fund
itself with land sales. Lee believed that the urgency of this measure was
paramount because borrowing more foreign money was no longer prudent and he
abhorred the movement to establish new federal taxes. It was the sale of these
vast federal lands, he deduced, that was the nation's only hope to pay off the war
debt and adequately fund federal government.

Debate began on the expanding the Ordinance
of 1784 on April 14 and discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s survey method “hundreds of ten geographical miles square,
each mile containing 6086 and 4-10ths of a foot” and “sub-divided into lots of
one mile square each, or 850 and 4-10ths of an acre.” On May 3, 1785, William Grayson of Virginia
made a motion seconded by James Monroe to change “seven miles square” to “six
miles square” and the current US Survey system was born. President Lee
wrote to his friend and colleague Samuel Adams:

I
hope we shall shortly finish our plan for disposing of the western Lands to
discharge the oppressive public debt created by the war & I think that if
this source of revenue be rightly managed, that these republics may soon be
discharged from that state of oppression and distress that an indebted people
must invariably feel. [23]

The States relinquish their
right to this "test tract" of land and the Western Land
Ordinance of 1785 was passed on May 20, 1785.

Western Land Ordinance Broadside dated May 20, 1785 and signed in type by Richard Henry Lee as President of the United States in Congress Assembled and Charles Thomson as Secretary of the United States in Congress Assembled

Plat of Township 2, Range 7 in the Ohio Seven Ranges ca. 1796 - The United States and Great Britain granted land to those who had been loyal to their cause during the Revolutionary War, forcing those who had not to leave. Loyalist refugees resettled in the remaining British colonies, including the West Indies, or moved back to Great Britain. Patriot refugees from Canada and Nova Scotia arrived, while other Americans moved to new homesteads or rebuilt old ones. A systematic grid was imposed on the North American landscape to aid in settling the interior. Congress set aside four sections for government use and one section for education use—the first federal aid to education. - from the Records of the Bureau of Land Management

The
Western Land Ordinance of 1785 put the 1784 Land Ordinance into operation by
providing a mechanism for selling and settling the land. The federal surveyors divided the land into
carefully planned individual square townships. Each side of the township square
was to be six miles in length containing thirty-six square miles of territory.
The township was then divided into one-square mile sections, with each section
receiving its own number and encompassing 640 acres. Section sixteen was to be
set aside for a public school and sections eight, eleven, twenty-six, and
twenty-nine were to provide veterans of the American Revolution with land as
payment for their service during the war thus greatly reducing the war debt.
The government would then sell the remaining sections at public auction at the
minimum bid of 640 dollars per section or one dollar for an acre of land in
each section.

The
Federal Government, however, lacked the resources to manage the newly surveyed
lands because Native Americans refused to relinquish a large percentage of the
platted land and most of the territory remained too dangerous for settlement.
This either required troops to eject the Native Americans or capital to
purchase their land "fairly" insuring the peaceful sale and
settlement. Additionally the small amount of federal land
that was not in dispute by the Native Americans was enthusiastically being
occupied by western settlers that had no faith in or respect for the USCA
operation as a federal authority. The settlers just claimed the land as
squatters and the USCA was unable to muster the capital to magistrates let
alone troops to enforce the $1.00 per acre fee required for a clear federal
land title. With the States no longer in control of the lands and no federal
magistrates or troops to enforce the laws, a tide of western squatters flowed
into the Northwest Territory. Richard
Henry Lees’ plan to fill the federal treasury with the proceeds of land sales
failed.

In
June a despondent Congress turned their attentions to other matters and
appointed a new federal court to decide on a South Carolina-Georgia boundary
dispute. Most of the month dealt with the appointment of Indian commissioners
in an effort to negotiate Native American Treaties to settle the territory and
discharging the small garrison at Fort Pitt to rein in the squatter tide
populating the Ohio territory. Congress also ordered inquiries into the offices
of the former Superintendent of Finance and the treasury administration. Such
inquiries did not deter the growth of Governmental departments that expanded as
the undefined office of President of the United States steadily lost power. On
June 13th President Lee wrote his nephew a letter demonstrating that he was
well aware of strengthening the Office of Foreign Secretary at the expense of
the U.S. Presidency:

And
most certainly I should not have first commenced such practice with so
respectable a character as Doctor Franklin. When Congress determined to indulge
the Doctor, upon his request, with leave to retire, the business of
communicating that determination was expressly assigned to the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs among the other duties of his Office; And did not enter at all into my
business. In me it would have been a work of Supererogation and I think myself
warranted in doing justice to the honorable Secretary for Foreign Affairs by
assuring you that his information was sent by the earliest good opportunity
that offered after the Act of Congress passed. I thank you for your obliging
attention to my affairs … God bless you. Farewell, Richard Henry Lee.[25]

Early
July brought the celebration of Independence and the establishment of the
Dollar as the money unit of the United States on the 6th with these resolutions:

Resolved,
That the money unit of the United States of America be one dollar. Resolved,
That the smallest coin be of copper, of which 200 shall pass for one dollar.
Resolved, That the several pieces shall increase in a decimal ratio.[26]

July
also began debates on granting the federal government intrastate and foreign
commerce power to raise revenue. Lee’s USCA abolished the commissary of
military stores and the entire quartermaster department while they debated a
direly needed federal requisition bill from the states. Cutting costs was
another part of Lee’s plan to place the new nation on a secure financial
footing.

In
more budget cuts Lee’s financially insolvent USCA notified the appeals court judges
that they could no longer be able to pay their salaries. Despite this the USCA resolved
that the judges continue with their commissions did without any pay, like
President Lee, by not revoking their commissions. Future President Cyrus Griffin would serve in that payless
position for six months.

The
Capitol’s post-war growth in 1784-1785 was unprecedented in America during the
18th Century. The relocation of the Federal Government to Manhattan, in what is
now known as the Wall Street district, attracted what must have seemed like a
tidal wave of diplomats, politicians and enterprising businessmen seeking
housing, office and retail space near the USCA’s offices. In late July,
Congress, at the request of Richard Henry Lee, passed an unusual resolution
that was directed to N. Y. C. Mayor James Duane and signed by the President:

New
York July 20th, 1785: I have the honor to enclose an Act of Congress that has
been prompted by the daily interruption given to their discussions by the
almost unceasing noise of passing Carriages. Your long acquaintance with public
business and your wish to see it discharged with propriety and dispatch, will
secure your approbation of the proposed remedy if it shall be found to consist
with the police of the City.[27]

As
the July summer percolated into a steamy New York City August meaningful work
in Congress slowed to a trickle despite the chained-off area as the city teemed
with the new country's business. Richard Henry Lee decided to leave the Capitol
due to an undisclosed illness and in his absence Congress granted Secretary
John Jay greater latitude in negotiating with Don Diego de Gardoqui,[28]
the Spanish Minister to end the tide of Mississippi tariffs that beleaguered
the U.S. southern territories and States.[29]
On July 21, 1785, under a resolution
from the USCA, Foreign Secretary John Jay was
empowered to negotiate a treaty with Spain to win navigation rights on the
Mississippi and special nation trading status:

… appoint him the said John Jay our
plenipotentiary; giving and granting to him full powers on behalf of the United
States of America to treat, adjust, conclude and sign with the said Don Diego
de Gardoqui, Encargado de Negocios of his Catholic Majesty, vested with similar
powers, whatever Articles, Compacts and Conventions may be necessary for
establishing and fixing the boundaries between the Territories of the said
United States and those of his Catholic Majesty, and for promoting the general
harmony and mutual interest of the two Nations; and we do hereby promise in
good faith to approve, ratify and fulfill, and cause to be observed and
fulfilled, exactly and entirely, whatsoever shall be by him our said
plenipotentiary stipulated and signed as aforesaid.[30]

John
Jay was the logical choice having served as a Minister to Spain during the
war. Additionally, Minister Gardoqui
knew Jay from his 1780 negotiations on the Mississippi. In New York, Secretary Jay enjoyed the lavish
entertainment of Gardoqui who sought the USCA to recognize Spain’s claim to
exclusive control of the Mississippi below the southern border of the United
States.

The western and southern borders of the
United States had been a source of tension between Spain and the United States.
The U.S. border extended to the Mississippi River, but its southern stretch
remained in Spanish territory, and Spanish officials, reluctant to encourage
U.S. trade and settlement in a strategic frontier area, kept the Mississippi
River closed to American shipping. Moreover, both Spain and the United States
claimed portions of the present-day states of Alabama and Mississippi, and
earlier negotiations to resolve the territorial disputes had broken off
inconclusively. The Spanish government maintained several forts in the disputed
territories, and could also count on indigenous resistance to U.S. attempts to
survey or encroach upon Native American lands. U.S. citizens from the southern
states and frontier areas found Spanish policies restrictive, and wanted the
U.S. Government to renegotiate its positions.[31]

Foreign
Secretary John Jay had a herculean task before him, treaty negotiations would
drag on for over a year.

Meanwhile,
Richard Henry Lee, who was in Philadelphia recuperating under the care of his
friend Dr. Benjamin Rush, continued to attend to his Presidential duties. In
this letter to Secretary Charles Thomson, President Lee also comments on his
health.

Philadelphia
August 21st. 1785: The letter that you favored me with on the 18th instant
reached me yesterday after the post had left the City, so that the papers
enclosed for my signature must be detained until next post day, unless Doctor
Gardener should afford me an opportunity of more quickly conveying them. With
the returned papers you will receive also enclosed a letter from the honorable
Mr. Rutledge, and one from Lt. Colo. Harmer, both which I received yesterday. I
pray you Sir to accept my thanks for your obliging wishes for the recovery of
my health, which is certainly better than when I left New York. [32]

In
early September quorum problems once again plagued the USCA with the President
in Philadelphia. Lee still managed some Presidential business. President Lee,
who was still struggling with the USCA’s resolution on all foreign
correspondence be redirected to the Foreign Secretary wrote Jay a letter
regarding the treaty’s ratification with Spain:

I
had the honor of receiving this morning your favor of the fourth instant
concerning the letter from Count de Florida Blanca to the President of
Congress, which was delivered to me by Mr. Gardoque. Having considered that
letter as a public one, I delivered it to Congress, and it now remains with
their Secretary, if he has not sent it to your Office. I do not precisely
remember the contents of the letter, and viewing it in the light of a public one;
I have two difficulties, which I pray your assistance to remove. As a public
letter, it would seem that the sentiments in answer should be dictated by
Congress; As a private one, I should know exactly its contents which I do not.
I shall be very happy to have your sentiments on this occasion after you have
seen the letter; and I will readily pursue that course which your better
knowledge of such business shall point out to me. Be pleased Sir to accept my
thanks for your obliging wishes for the restoration of my health which is much
mended since I have drank the waters in the vicinity of this place. My
compliments, if you please, to Mr. Gardoque. [33]

From
September 13th to the 17th Congress focused on and passed the 1785
Requisition. October saw the return of
the President to New York from Philadelphia and it was a very busy month with
the dispatch of troops to attend western Native American negotiations,
exhorting states to meet financial quotas and coping with the shipping threats
of the Barbary States. The USCA failed to achieve quorum on three occasions in
late October so Richard Henry Lee's term ended with the postponement of
convening a court to settle the Massachusetts-New York western border disputes
and the recruitment resolution for 700-troops to be sent west and either
collect the $1.00 per acre federal land fees or evict squatters from the newly
surveyed territories. With this Richard Henry Lee’s term ended. The USCA Journals
Chronology of Lee’s in New York:

1785 -January
11 Reconvenes,
five states represented. January 13 Achieves quorum, seven states represented.
January 18 Accepts offer of New York City Hall for the use of Congress. January
20 Communicates to states intelligence on the precariousness of United States
credit abroad. January 24 Orders preparation of a requisition on the states for
1785. January 25 Elects treasury commissioners; tables L'Enfant plan for
establishing a corps of engineers. January 27 Adopts ordinance "for
ascertaining the powers and duties of the Secretary at War." January 31
Resolves to appoint minister to Great Britain. February 1 Ratifies terms of a
two-million-guilder Dutch loan.

February 2 Adopts proclamation urging
states to penalize counterfeiting. February 7 Approves lease of public buildings
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania., to Dickinson College; orders removal of War Office,
Post Office and Treasury offices to New York. February 10 Elects Philip
Schuyler commissioner for planning federal capital. February 11 Adopts
regulations for the office for for­eign affairs, conceding to Secretary Jay's
demands. February 18 Limits terms of ministers abroad. February 21 Resolves to
send commissioners to the Illinois Settlements. February 24 Appoints John Adams
minister to Great Britain. March 4 Opens debate on western land ordinance.

March 7 Authorizes Benjamin Franklin's return to America; resolves to
appoint minister to the Netherlands. March 8 Elects Henry Knox secretary at
war. March 10 Elects Thomas Jefferson minister to France. March 11 Adopts
instructions for negotiating with the Barbary States. March 15 Adopts instruc­tions
for the southern Native American commissioners. March 16 Rejects motion to
limit slavery in the territories. March 17 Imposes 12-month limit for
submission of claims against the United States. March 18 Adopts instructions
for the western Native American commissioners. March 21 Elects southern Native
American commissioners; thanks king of Denmark for offer to ordain American
candidates for holy orders. March 28 Receives report on granting Congress
commerce powers. March 31 Adopts ordinance for regulating the office of
secretary of Congress; receives report on 1785 requisition.

April 1 Debates Continental military needs. April 7 Authorizes military
estab­lishment of 700 troops. April 14 Reads revised western land ordinance.
April 18 Accepts Massachusetts western land cession. April 22-28 Debates
western land ordinance. April 29 Appeals to states to maintain representation.

May 2-6 Debates western land
ordinance. May 9-10 Fails to achieve quorum (five states). May 12 Fails to
achieve quorum (six states). May 13 Receives coinage report. May 18-19 Debates
western land ordinance. May 20 Adopts western land ordinance; appeals to North
Carolina to repeat western land ces­sion. May 24 Fails to achieve quorum (four
states). May 27 Renews appoint­ment of geographer of the United States;
appoints 13 continental surveyors.

June 1 Authorizes appointment of federal court to decide South
Carolina-Georgia boundary dispute. June 3 Publishes treaties with the Native
Americans negotiated at Fort Stanwix and Fort McIntosh. June 6 Authorizes
negotiation of a Native American treaty at Vincennes. June 7 Discharges Fort
Pitt garrison. June 14 Responds to French announcement of the birth of a sec­ond
heir to the throne. June 17 Orders John Jay to plan audience for the Spanish
plenipotentiary Diego de Gardoqui. June 20 Orders inquiry into the
administration of the late superintendent of finance. June 21 Orders annual
inquiry into treasury administration. June 23 Appoints William Livingston
minister to the Netherlands (declines). June 29 Asks Virginia to provide mili­tary
support for Native American commissioners. June 30 Orders a study of mail
transportation.

July 1 Rejects motion to abolish court of appeals, but terminates
salaries of the judges. July 2 Receives Diego de Cardoqui. July 4 Celebrates
Independence Day. July 5 Appoints John Rutledge minister to the Netherlands
(declines). July 6 Adopts the dollar as the money unit of the United States.
July 11 Continues rations for Canadian refugees. July 12 Receives Post Office
report. July 13-14 Debates granting Congress commerce power. July 18 Debates
1785 requisition. July 20 Abolishes commissary of military stores. July 22
Debates 1785 requisition. July 25 Abolishes quartermaster department. July
28-29 Debates 1785 requisition.

August 1-3 Debates 1785 requisition.
August 5 Orders removal of the treasurer's office to New York (by October 1).
August 10-13 Recesses. August 15 Thanks king of Spain for sending Gardoqui
mission. August 17 Appoints Samuel Holten chairman in the absence of President
Lee (through September 29 for the recovery of his health); Secretary Thomson to
report delegate atten­dance monthly. August 18 Endorses conduct of
Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin in controversy with British naval captain
Henry Stanhope. August 25 Grants John Jay greater latitude in negotiating with
Gardoqui. August 29 Abolishes committee of the week (duties transferred to
secretary of Congress.

September 2-3 Fails to achieve quorum (five states and two states, respective­ly).
September 5 Receives John Jay report on British occupation of northwest posts.
September 7 Authorizes John Jay to inspect the mails when ever required by
United States "safety or interest"; approves the conveyance of mails
by stage carriages. September 13-17 Debates 1785 requisition. September 19­21
Debates appeal of Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming valley. September 22-26
Debates 1785 requisition. September 27 Adopts 1785 requisition. September 29
Authorizes commission to settle Massachusetts-New York eastern boundary.

October 5 Orders postmaster general to extend system of posts. October 7
Debates threat of western separatism. October 12 Authorizes troops to attend
western Native American negotiations; exhorts states to meet fiscal quotas.
October 17-18 Mourns death of Virginia delegate Samuel Hardy (age 27). October
20 Receives John Jay’s report on naval threat of Barbary States. October 21-22
Fails to achieve quorum (six states and one state, respectively). October 25
Fails to achieve quorum (four states). October 27 Rejects proposal to create
consular establishment. October 28 Confers consular powers on ministers abroad.

November 2 Postpones convening of court to determine Massachusetts-New York
western land claims dispute; suspends recruitment for 700-troop establish­ment.
November 4 Congressional session expires.

At
the end of his presidential term Lee returned to Virginia and remained active
in state politics until he was re-elected to the USCA as a 1787 delegate. Lee
voted to revise the Articles of Confederation resulting in the convening of the
Second Constitutional Convention. He was a strong opponent against the adoption
of the current U.S. Constitution leading the opposition against sending it to
the States unchanged in September 1787.

Though
at first an Anti-Federalist under the second U.S. Constitution, United States Senator Lee (March 4, 1789 to October 8, 1792) became
an ardent supporter of Washington's administration in 1789. He was especially supportive of the
President’s course in the affair of "citizen" Genet. In 1792
Lee, who was the second US Senate Pro-Tempore,
was obliged, by failing health, to resign his seat. He retired to his estate at
Chantilly, where he spent the last two years of his life.

Richard
Henry Lee’s grave can be found in a quaint farm field just off a sandy lane in
Westmoreland County on the grounds of his former estate with the epitaph "We
Can Not Do Without You." A definitive work in two volumes, "Memoir
of the Life of Richard Henry Lee," Philadelphia, 1825, was written by
grandson, Richard Henry Lee, of Leesburg, Virginia.

[5] The Committees of Correspondence were shadow
governments organized by the British colonial leaders of the North American
Colonies just before the Revolutionary War.
Their members coordinated unified colonial responses to Great Britain's
taxation and unpopular laws. Through a coordination of their correspondence,
the committees emerged by 1773 as quasi governments with many superseding the
colonial legislature and royal officials.

[6] Lee, Richard Henry, Memoir of the life of Richard H.
Lee, and his Correspondence with the most distinguished Men in America and
Europe, H.C. Carey & I. Lea, Philadelphia, 1825 page 186

[19] Coenties Slip was an artificial inlet in the East River
for the loading and unloading of ships that was land-filled in 1835. New York's
first City Hall once stood at Coenties
Alley and Pearl Street, just to the north of Coenties Slip. In is now a historic pedestrian walkway.

[28] Don Diego María de Gardoqui y Arriquibar (1735-1798)
was a Spanish-born politician and diplomat.
He was the financial intermediary between the Spanish Court and the
Colonies. He was the first Ambassador of Spain to the United States. In 1785 he laid the cornerstone of St.
Peter's, the first Catholic Church in NYC.

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The United Colonies of North America Continental Congress Presidents (1774-1776)The United States of America Continental Congress Presidents (1776-1781)The United States of America in Congress Assembled Presidents (1781-1789)The United States of America Presidents and Commanders-in-Chiefs (1789-Present)

*Republican Party - - the political Party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1791 that went out of existence over the schism between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Today, for the sake of expediency, political scientists incorrectly refer to it as the Democratic-Republican Party. Party Members at the time never utilized the name Democratic-Republican because it was the Republican Party.

**Acting US President - David Atchison never claimed that he was the President of the United States for one day on March 4, 1849. Political Scientists who make the assertion claim that because Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn in on a Sunday, March 4, 1849, and both the President and Vice President's term ended on that date the President pro-tempore of the U.S. Senate, David Atchison, therefore became the President under 1849 Presidential succession law.